Today is the Solemnity of Christ the King, the last Sunday in ordinary time and so the end of the liturgical year. Next Sunday Advent begins during which time we will prepare ourselves to meet the newborn King – the King of the Universe.
Our readings today encourage us to stay focused on the Lord and to recognize him, not only as our savior but, as our Lord and King. He brings all things together in himself delivering all men from the power of darkness, setting before them the gates of Jerusalem, which is his house and our eternal home. The message for us today is that ultimately, it truly is all about him. He is at the center of all things, and we, his people, his church, journey towards that center. Our life is to be an unfolding realization of that truth.
In our first reading we hear how the tribes of Israel gave their allegiance to David who was, “of the same flesh and bone,” meaning they allied with him as one does to one's family. Though not their King, David had been the one who led the Israelites, ‘out and back.’ At that time the northern kingdom of Israel was separated from the southern kingdom of Judah but here is the great unification under David, who had been anointed as the future King by the prophet Samuel. Here all the tribes were united and gathered, acknowledging that it was God who had selected David to be their leader and their King. And it was now that Jerusalem would become the spiritual and political center of this new nation. This was a unique time when all would be gathered and would acknowledge a single king.
United under King David all the tribes would gather, a sign of what was to come, because under Jesus, a blood descendant of David, all nations are similarly gathered together.
And so, we, His church, spread throughout the world, are gathered under Christ’s Kingship and made fit to share in the inheritance of the holy ones in light, as we read in the letter from St. Paul to the Colossians. We are made ‘fit’ by way of our baptism, which gives each of us a new life and by which we become heirs to the kingdom of God. Yet do we really experience and acknowledge that new relationship which is born of baptism? That new relationship spoken of in the first reading and reflected in the good thief on the cross next to Christ. We are all too willing, as I am, to call upon Jesus to be our Savior. But this the unrepentant criminal did as well. The real question is are we willing to acknowledge Jesus Christ as the King of our life? This relationship is altogether quite different, demanding a poor man's humility. The good thief, traditionally named St. Dismas (means Dying in Greek), would hush and rebuke the words of the unrepentant thief and rather than demanding to be saved would honestly and humbly reflect on his own sinful life and would ask to be remembered. Jesus, in the throes of his own death would look upon him with kindness and mercy.
In that moment the good thief had recognized Christ as the King of the Universe as only that King could say, “today you will be with me in Paradise.”
To be like St. Dismas, the good thief, you and I are to come into Christ’s presence with honesty and humility. He is our savior, but he is also our King. Our minds, our hearts, our souls, our bodies, every aspect of our individual being and personhood belongs to him, and the more of these we place in service to him, the more freedom we discover. Unlike the Kings of the Old Testament that demanded taxes, tithes, land, military service, and forced labor, our King does not demand but does desire every aspect of our life. Yet this with the sole intention that each of us should grow in the fullness of life and with ever-increasing freedom. Freedom from the pain of sin, freedom from hopelessness, freedom from anger, freedom from resentment, freedom from the attachments to this world, which unsettles us and robs us of the peace found in Christ.
Jesus is our savior. To acknowledge him as the King of the Universe and as the King of our lives is the beginning, middle, and end of all things. Jesus gathers us to him and shepherds us towards the eternal Jerusalem. We are to eschew the demanding voice of the unrepentant thief. Rather, we are to be humble and rebuke those words. We are to turn to Jesus acknowledging him as the King of the Universe, and in so doing can ask him with great confidence, “Jesus, remember me.”
Saint Dismas, pray for us.
Deacon Peter Bujwid
St. Agnes Church, Arlington, Massachusetts
Sunday 23rd November, 2025
